A (Different) Pot for Every Grave: Multiscalar Burial Analysis of a Bronze Age Cemetery in Eastern Kazakhstan

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Advances and New Perspectives in Central Asian Archaeology" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The prehistoric site of Koken, located in the semiarid foothills of eastern Kazakhstan, records a deep history of human occupation spanning the Mesolithic to historical periods. Our research at Koken since 2019 has focused on an integrated habitation, rock art, and cemetery complex dating to the Bronze Age. We will present results from the Koken cemetery where our team has documented over 70 graves through survey, GPR, and excavation. To date, 23 graves have been excavated, allowing for a multiscalar approach to mortuary practices across local to interregional scales. Within the cemetery, different sectors can be distinguished through burial structures, while grave goods suggest material consistency across the burial ground. On a regional scale, body treatment and material inventory overlap with the wide-spread Andronovo culture sphere. We consider how Koken’s position on the geographic periphery of two distinct environmental-cultural zones—the steppe and Inner Asian Mountain Corridor—impacted ideological practice and the materiality of ritual behavior. Interdisciplinary evidence from Koken contributes to broader conversations on how pastoral communities can be both deeply invested in a localized landscape, and embedded in long-distance networks. * Images of human remains may appear in this presentation.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Advances and New Perspectives in Central Asian Archaeology   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 36094.0